Rutgers–Camden Students Travel World During Spring Break

Globetrotting Rutgers–Camden students are spending their spring break all over the world through unique study abroad opportunities that integrate cultural experiences with related coursework.

Rutgers–Camden’s International Studies Program is sponsoring four trips during March that will take students to England, Guatemala, Italy, and South Africa.

“Studying abroad really provides an unmatched element of experiential learning,” says Robert Emmons, associate director of the Honors College at Rutgers–Camden. “To study a place on the page is one thing, but to be in the place, with its people, is a more complete experience.”

Emmons is leading a group of 10 students to Italy, where they are taking the course “Travelogues: Exploring Place and Self in Sicily.” In addition to exploring the history of the travelogue — a short, exploratory ethnographic vignette meant to educate audiences about new and exotic places — the students are creating their own mini-documentaries about their trip, capturing the people and places they visit.

“I am asking of them to do something that you don't traditionally see in travelogues,” Emmons says. “I want their films to be as much about them as they are about the place we are visiting. For me, that's where the most meaningful experience is for an audience member. I want to know how this place, Sicily, has changed them.”

Rutgers–Camden’s signature spring break trip is to South Africa. This marks the 18^th year Rutgers–Camden students and faculty are journeying to and exploring historic Cape Town and Johannesburg.

“The whole trip is a learning experience,” says Cal Maradonna, assistant dean for off-campus programs at Rutgers–Camden. “I’ve received a lot of feedback over the years and students who have gone have told me that this trip has made a difference in their lives.”

This year, 72 bus

On the academic days, the courses are: “Doing Business in South Africa” (business); “South African Constitutional Law” and “South African Constitutional Law Research” (law); “Health and Healing: Nursing in South Africa (nursing); and “Urban Politics and Community Service in South Africa” (political science and urban studies).

Another group of political science students is traveling to England over spring break for the course titled, “Big Banks, Big Government and Global Finance.” In this course, taught by Richard Harris, a professor of political science at Rutgers–Camden, students are examining the origins of the financial collapse of 2007-08 and the responses of the two main centers of banking, the United States and the United Kingdom.

In London, the students are visiting the Bank of England on historic Threadneedle Street and the Financial Services Administration. They are also discussing the subject with professors of business and law at Oxford University.

Rutgers–Camden’s fourth spring break trip is bringing a group of nursing students to Guatemala to educate people of underserved communities on the importance of personal healthcare, diet and nutrition. Many people there have limited access to healthcare and lack knowledge of common healthcare practices.

The 30 nursing students are also partnering with the Highland Support Project, a non-governmental organization that seeks to foster empowerment and increase productivity of indigenous people in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.

This year, the students are helping to build stoves in Guatemalan homes to ensure that residents can safely cook their meals. Cooking on open flames in small spaces can cause smoky conditions that lead to respiratory problems. 

“These trips are real cultural experiences that many students are having for the first time,” Maradonna says. “They can be eye-opening.”

In May, the international studies courses again will commence with two courses in Brazil (“Doing Business In Brazil” and “Brazilian Health and Healthcare”); one in France (“Literature and Civilization in the Loire Valley and Paris”); one in Ireland (“Literary Ireland”); and two in Prague and Budapest (“Contemporary Film and Literature of Eastern Europe” and “Musical Prague and Budapest.”